March of the STICK: Beggining of the End
by Lt Colonel Summers
Summary: An army of darkness is approaching, and the inhabitants of the universes to be involved are having visions and nightmares about it. But just who or what is this army of darkness? Update @ July 7th of 2013: this series will be discontinued. The rest of the story is lost in my ocean of imaginations. Sorry! :(
1. Chapter 1

**Foreword**

So, I had a bit of loose imagination that I'm going to release from my mind...

This series, called "March of the STICK" is about a futuristic military force that attempts to conquer other universes after failing to conquer their own. This army is known as the STICK, short for "Stickmen's Territory Initializing and Capturing Kamfe". Now you might think of this army as a Nazi By Another Name, but it is in fact, not. It has a mixture of Western Musketeers and Eastern Samurais within it's forces.

Enough of the foreword, let's go to the story.

Okay, not done with the forewords yet. One more sentence: This series tells how many video game characters will have to repel the aforementioned army. Done...

**End of foreword**

...

Officer: "General Stickler. It's time to address the forces."

Stickler: "Give me another few minutes."

Officer: "Yes sir."

The officer closes the door and waits outside.

Stickler, the general of the STICK Army, or rather, the _new_ STICK Army, is flipping through the documents regarding all past operations that has been conducted in the universe he and his army had originated from.

The number of failures that has been sustained was up to 12. The ones to blame was a faction known as the RAIDERS, also from the STICK's universe of origin. All 12 operations are thwarted by what Stickler would have named as his rival.

The RAIDERS are somehow always there to kick his army's ass, even during the time he had made sure that the faction was disbanded, which was right before the fifth failure.

But now he had set up base in a different universe, his army will never be bothered by the RAIDERS ever again. He rest assured that his army will take the time to develop better technology, and by now, the technologies developed by the STICK was practically enough to outmatch magic. He told himself to never return to the original universe in case the RAIDERS somehow kicks his army's ass again.

Officer: "Sir, we're 10 minutes late."

Stickler: "..."

With that, Stickler walked out of his office, and proceeds to walk toward what he would have called glory over space and time...

...

**Gaia, the Final Fantasy 7 universe**

It was another day at the Gold Saucer...

It has been this peaceful ever since the permanent defeat of the One-Winged Angel. Everybody was happy for the entire period of peace.

Excluding the hero: Cloud Strife.

Cloud was never seen smiling except that one time when he finished Sephiroth for good, got blown up by the remaining Remnants in their kamikaze run, and then supposedly resurrected by the Lifestream (how that happened, nobody would want to know) and rematerialized in the Sector 7 Church. Needless to say, the Geostigma plague was over thanks to him.

But he was never seen happy again ever since he learned his true identity from the Shinra Electric Company. There, he learned that he was an artificial humanoid created by the company as part of the super soldier project.

Cloud was just walking around the Gold Saucer, just passed by Dio's Monster Arena not long ago. Dio, the owner of the Arena had gretted him with a "hello", and Cloud simply gave a hand wave as a reply. As he kept walking, the Arena starts to fade from view the farther he went.

It was so suddenly that he was assaulted by a massive headache. He had never experienced something like this before. No, not even the time when Sephiroth tapped into Gaia's core has he ever felt such thing. Even though he had not trusted the sixth sense much, he knew something bad was going to happen, for that he was having a vision of a war that will occur in the future. In this vision, he saw the entirety of Midgar decimated, corpses and debris laid everywhere in the burning streets of the city, the enemy forces, presumed to be something demonic (although he can't make out the enemy's shape) appears to be summoning war machines in their wake, and continued with their massacre.

That was when Cloud can't take it anymore, he collapsed on the ground, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back at Gold Saucer, where he had experienced the massive headache...

If it was something even the Lifestream itself had feared, then it was probably much more powerful than Sephiroth himself...

...

**Spira, the Final Fantasy 10 universe**

3 years into the Eternal Calm, Spira is still peaceful, after all the endearment of sorrow that has happened for a thousand years.

The sorrow was caused by the creature whose name will be forgotten by nobody: Sin was the creature's name, and with it, came even more sorrow and the monstrous abominations known as Fiends.

With Sin permanently defeated, the first Eternal Calm befalls Spira. However, that Calm could not be called "Eternal" as it was disturbed by an angry Unsent who calls himself Shuyin. With Shuyin came Vegnagun, the Machina weapon that was stashed under Bevelle for a thousand years, the same time Sin was born.

By destroying Vegnagun and convincing Shuyin to surrender, the Unsent spirit is sent to the Farplane, and the true Eternal Calm arrives.

But now, with the constant nightmares of the Fayth and Summoners, it appears that this Eternal Calm is going to be disturbed again...

Fiends are suddenly going berserk, they are attacking everything that moves. Soldiers of the New Yevon has noticed this incident and are currently trying to contain the Fiends, but with no success. The Fiends are increasing in population, and the Summoners and their Guardians are forced to take action.

What makes it so is that even the Farplane is crawling with Fiends. And to top it off, there were reports of sentient human-form Fiends mugging travelling merchants.

"The army of darkness will march from the underworld and claim the life of all those who stands in their way." One such Human-Fiend had muttered this sentence before being killed off by the Grand Summoner.

To this day, the Spiran are terrified by such words. What kind of evil was enough to rival the now-dead abomination that is Sin?

...

**Gensokyo, the Touhou universe**

If there's an Incident that yields something worse, then no word exists to describe it.

Glimmering under the Red Moon is a .495 "Scarlet Wing" tank that happens to be patrolling the streets of Gensokyo Downtown. The massive rectangle of green, which was quite fast despite the nature of Tanks, is causing everybody near it to remain silent, humans and Youkai alike. Armed with a magically enhanced cannon with a long barrel, the tank was quite effective in performing what the owner wanted: to induce fear.

Of course, as with all military vehicles, the .495 has an insignia that looks intimidating by itself: the Scarlet Devil Army's insignia.

Elsewhere, the Hakurei shrine maiden is still in the Hakurei Shrine, sitting next to the ever-empty donation box, occasionally taking a sip from the cup of green tea she is holding. It was naturally her job to resolve Incidents, but facing the largest Incident ever occurred, there was nothing she could do about the Scarlet Devil Army and their invasions all over Gensokyo. Besides, she was lazy by her nature.

Then she spoke, "Gone Master-Spark-ing another one of Remilla's goons again, did you?"

A certain witch in black-white clothing approaches from the shadows. In response to the Shrine Maiden's words, she dropped on the floor a machine gun that is cut in half. "Close enough. I didn't Master-Spark anyone. Instead I really was stupid enough to fire upon one of her lackey-in-a-metal-box, ze."

The Shrine Maiden is now furious. "Marisa, how many times have I told you NOT to attack the Tanks under any circumstances? You know how tough they are."

Marisa, the witch, is now being sarcastic to herself for the mistake. "Sucks to be me..."

"Know what? This is the first time you realized your mistake by yourself. The shrine maiden added.

Marisa added in something new. "Reimu, I'm not here to realize my mistake. I'm here to report on the Scarlet's advancements, ze."

Reimu, the shrine maiden replied, "Well, what have you got?"

"It seems that they stopped advancing just before the foot of the Youkai Mountain. The Scarlet's didn't go any further beyond that. Seems to be something to do with Fangs herself, ze." Marisa said.

Reimu: "Remilla? What about her?"

Marisa: "I spied on the group, and heard someone talking about receiving a message. They mentioned something about their mistress-and-commander having nightmares about the future. Dunno about the rest, they turned back after that."

Reimu: "Nightmares about the future? I heard from Sanae about a similar nightmare, said something about heli-whatevertheyare attacking Gensokyo..."

Marisa: "I know nothing 'bout nightmares, ze. But I know well enough that two people having the same dream is no coincidence."

Reimu looks worried. "Which means a bigger Incident is about to arrive. One that rivals all previous Incidents."

...

**Afterwords**

_Wow, the STICK sure is causing widespread panic over time and space, huh?_

_In case you didn't understand the part about the intervals with FF7, FF10 and Touhou, let me say that... Well, you should've figured it out by reading the first line of the Afterwords._

_Also, I know I may have made mistakes about Cloud Strife's personality, or Reimu and Marisa's for the matter (along with the "ze" phenomenon)ust that bad at analyzing personalities._

_One more thing. Although you only see 3 games being mentioned in this story, there's going to be a lot more game worlds that get's influenced by the plotline of the story, and not just Japanese games for that matter..._

_"Until then..."_


	2. Chapter 2

**When Everything Starts**

Over a field of concrete floor stood millions of the STICK Infantries, along side them are the army's assortment of destructive war machines. The Officer did another head count using one of the sophisticated devices developed by the STICK during the past 3 disturb-free years. As expected, the number of heads counted was more than any supercomputer could handle, the device release a few sparks before shutting off. The officer then threw it on the ground.

The leader of the STICK Army arrived, and it looked like they are grateful to see him. All of them.

The army who was assembled before General Stickler were actually waiting for him to deliver the final speech before their ultimate operation. They were all cheering.

Stickler stood before a specially made podium that has an attached microphone...

Stickler: "Ladies and Gentlesticks..."

The end of the sentence echoed through the field of soldiers. The soldiers fell silent.

Stickler: "This is what we've been waiting for. What we prepared for over the past 3 years without interference from humans."

"They thought they can prevent us from conquering the world. They might be right, but they will never be able to prevent us from conquering universes!"

"It is all thanks to this device our scientists has built."

Stickler then points toward a large machine at the side. The soldiers cheered again.

Stickler: "Today, we will do what we are made to do, and succeeds in doing it! Today, is the day all of space and time feels our wrath! Today, we will conquer all of space and time!"

The mass of soldiers cheered again. It is now evident that the army stretches beyond the world's horizon. Clearly the STICK has grown too powerful to be stopped...

Stickler: "Now, ladies and gentle sticks. Conquer all that you walk across!"

The soldiers cheer even more. Stickler then gives the order to start the operation. All the soldiers marches alongside the war machines into a huge portal that has just been opened.

There's no stopping the army of darkness now...

...

**Gaia, the Final Fantasy 7 universe...**

An earthquake occurred all of a sudden...

Normally, people would've taken cover minutes before an earthquake. But since this one occurred without signs of it going to happen, many people are caught in the streets of Midgar, and debris are falling everywhere...

Agents of the Shinra Electric Company are evacuating as many survivors as they can reach. Those who can't be saved are left behind without any choice.

Cloud Strife was among the escaping survivors. He is driving his motorcycle as fast as he can while trying to maneuver around the falling debris. A large-sized debris suddenly appeared several feet above him, but he simply sliced it in half with the Fusion Sword. The large debris, now cut in half, falls to the no time, he quickly drives out of the city before it completely collapses into rubble.

Out in the Midgar Wasteland, the citizens whom got out in time were looking at the pile of rubble that had once been Midgar City. Homes were destroyed, lives were lost, the destruction did in everything that did not escape in time.

Despite what the earthquake has done, it's sudden and suspicious end draws the eyes of a certain little girl to another section of the Wasteland.

"Look!" she cried out to the other survivors.

Everyone, including Cloud, shifted their attention what seems to be a portal materializing at the far side of the Wasteland.

At the same time, Cloud was once again assaulted by a massive headache. He remembered the vision he saw back at Gold Saucer a few days ago. He wondered if the portal and the vision are somehow related.

The young woman who has been standing next to Cloud noticed his condition. "Cloud, what's wrong with you?" she asked worriedly.

Cloud replied with a grunt, "A few days ago I had this vision of some kind of army of darkness destroying everything in their path. I think this must be what the Lifestream is trying to tell me."

The young woman look puzzled. "The Lifestream? Tell me, Cloud. What did you see that time?"

"Aside from the army of darkness themselves, they seem to have several powerful war machines."

As soon as Cloud finished the sentence. The portal stabilized. Cloud, whose massive headache stopped, looked at the base of the portal. He clearly did not recognize the humanoid figures, but the machines on the other hand...

Cloud: "Oh no..."

Woman: "What's wrong?"

Cloud: "I don't know any of those humanoids, but the machines they bought with them are identical to the ones I saw in that vision."

Woman: "Which means..."

The woman did not finish the sentence. Because from the group of humanoids that emerged from the portal shouted a single word. This very word is what terrifies anyone facing such army.

"FIRE!"

Cloud: "Tifa, look out!" Cloud yelled as several bombshells are fired at the group of survivors.

...

**Spira, the Final Fantasy 10 universe**

It was a strange occurrence...

Every single Fiend in the world disintegrated into Pyreflies at the very same moment, as if something is going to appear that terrifies even the deadliest of beasts.

The cause is then evident: a portal begins to materialize within the ruins of the city once known as Zanarkand. In fact, it could have been noticed earlier due to the sudden disappearance of Pyreflies within the ruins, which was always brimming with them.

Standing at the summit of Mount Gagazet, the Grand Summoner Yuna and her Guardian Tidus saw the event unfolding itself. What could come through the portal?

Tidus: "Now what will appear from that thing? Another Sin? No way, we killed off it's summoner for good."

Yuna was going to say something, but that exact moment is when the portal stabilizes.

For a few seconds, the portal just stood there, doing nothing at all. Then several humanoid figures begin to pour through the portal, alongside with them several large machines with destruction drawn on them.

Tidus: "It's not Sin, but I don't like this..."

Yuna: "With them came several Machina. None of which we have ever even imagined."

Tidus: "So you're saying they're much more advanced than the Al Bhed?"

Yuna was cut off pre-sentence again. This time when one of the figures looked at their direction. The same figure yelled something, and some of the flying machines, with their massive spinning blades attached to their top, and Gatling guns to their sides, flies toward the mountain summit. Tidus and Yuna took cover in time, but the machines doesn't seem to be targeting them.

They are headed straight for Bevelle...

The lesser figures and war machines then begin to climb up the mountain path. "Here they comes!" yelled Tidus, who is now running away from the scene with Yuna. But it was not long before one of the war machines, one with the appearance of a Drake, took notice of them. Said machine then fired a beam, which is a smaller and weaker variant of Sin's main attack, at the escaping duo.

The ground below them disappears, and they plunge to the bottom of the massive mountain pass...

...

**Gensokyo, the Touhou universe.**

"What do you mean they refuse to go on?!"

A commotion is occurring within the Scarlet Devil Mansion, base of operations of the Scarlet Devil Army as well as the home of their leader the Scarlet Devil.

Remilla Scarlet herself...

Remilla: "I don't care what happened, I want them to proceed! You hear me!?"

The second in command was the mansion's Chief Maid, who is known as the Perfect and Elegant Maid: Sakuya Izayoi.

Sakuya: "But milady. They said there's mysterious energy building up there."

Remilla: "Well, what could it be?! Don't tell me it's caused by the Outside World!"

Sakuya: "No. It's coming from beyond the Outside World. Beyond the universe."

Remilla: "I had enough of this! Get me Pathc-"

A wounded fairy soldier suddenly fell down from the ceiling onto the main court where the commotion is happening.

Fairy Soldier: "They... Need... Rein... force... ments..."

That's all she said before she falls unconscious.

Reinforcements? The Scarlet Devil Army has never asked for reinforcements since the day it was founded. What could be happening out there?

The answer presents itself in the form of a stray explosive. The whole mansion vibrated by the explosion.

Another fairy soldier, this one a Squad Captain wearing all blue, with blue hair, blue ribbon and icicle wings, rushes into the main court, breathing heavily.

Fairy Captain: "Lady Scarlet, one of the enemies' shots has just destroyed the clock tower!"

Remilla and Sakuya rushes outside. It was true, what was once the clock tower was now a fiery mess of bricks, glass and gears. Over the mountain range that the mansion entrance is facing, lots of danmaku and bombshells are being fired. It was then that more stray explosives, actually missiles, are headed toward the mansion.

The missiles hit and blew apart many sections of the mansion. When the smokes cleared up, several flying machines, which in the Outside World are known as helicopters, are seen approaching the mansion.

These machines came in 2 types: one is white colored carrying miniguns on it's side wings; the other is larger, colored black with 2 propellers, and carrying more weapons under it's cockpit. But they both shares a similarity: the same insignia is attached to them, one never seen before by Gensokyians...

The armada of helicopters starts firing upon the mansion with their miniguns, laser gun and multiple missile launchers. The fairy soldiers stationed at the mansion shoots back, but are quickly decimated.

While Remilla herself was attacking with her Gungnir, she was only able to take down 1 out of the hundreds that is swarming her mansion. These helicopters are surprisingly resistant to damage...

Then one of the white colored helicopters fired a laser beam toward the mansion. Remilla, who was unfortunately caught in it while avoiding a missile, had one of her vampire wings _disintegrated_ by the beam.

Sakuya: "MILADY!"

...

**Afterwords**

_This is it, the STICK has declared war on the other universes, and it looks like they were going to win right off the bat._

_Not that they are owerpowered, in the universe where they came from, the STICK Army was constantly defeated by super humans where they spent a solid 10 years trying to outmatch, but always ends with their ace card weapons destroyed by said super humans._

_Another note: I really suck at writing in the style of novels, and might have messed up quite a lot of grammar back there._

_As usual, this story is not to be copied or reposted on another website without the owner's (me) permission. You are free to post a version with corrected grammar, but make sure you follow the fanfiction dot com rules to avoid getting a banishment. You have been warned._

_"Until then..."_


	3. Fantasy Blitzkrieg (Touhou arc begins)

**Gensokyo, the Touhou universe**

It was the biggest Incident ever occurred in the history of Gensokyo.

An army of darkness appeared out of the blue, and declared war on the isolated world. Even though Gensokyo was brimming with magic-based combat, this army of darkness still managed to defeat the local military force that is the Scarlet Devil Army, using weapons of science.

Somewhere near the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the pile of destroyed .495 "Scarlet Wing" tanks are being salvaged by the very same army of darkness. At first glance one would mistake them as embodiment of shadows came to life, when the truth is that they are actual humanoids that came from another universe.

Within the Scarlet Devil Mansion itself, the Scarlet Devil Army is being assembled for the next attempt to drive the army of darkness out of Gensokyo. But all the fairy soldiers stopped moving at the instance of seeing the commander of the army of darkness entering the mansion and requests to talk to the Scarlet Devil, Remilla Scarlet.

In the main hall, Remilla doesn't seem surprised by the visit even though it is the first time the enemy visited. Remilla clearly remembered when one of the army's flying machines shot off her left wing with a laser beam, and she wasn't happy to be seeing the ones responsible either...

Remilla: "What brings you here into my mansion, you bastards?"

Officer: "I'm just here to tell you to call off all further attempts to repel us from your land. That's all"

Remilla: "Request denied! Spell..."

Before Remilla could even finish the word "spellcard", the soldiers whom have been accompanying moved into a defensive position in front of the Officer. Those with shields line up into a wall of men, those with Gatling guns took aim.

Remilla, who is still holding her unused spellcard, spoke sarcastically. "So that's how you wounded my Chief Maid: by shooting back with your quick reflex."

Officer: "Along with taking that golden fob watch of hers."

The Officer pulls out the Luna Dial and held it in front. "Seems that she stops time with it. In case you're wondering where she is..."

With a wave of his left hand, the Officers ordered the soldiers to fire upon the vampire mistress. Caught by the sudden rain of bullets, Remilla was unable to get out of the situation, leaving her partially wounded.

Officer: "You're lucky only one of my soldiers is aiming at you, the other 3 missed on purpose."

Without another word, the Officer left the main hall. Just outside the main hall, one of the soldiers accompanying the Officer, the same one that is really aiming at Remilla earlier, stopped in his tracks. It was not long when a certain blue fairy with icicle wings decides to ambush the group with a spellcard.

"Freeze Sign: Perfect..."

This soldier quickly pointed his Gatling Gun at where the sound is coming from. In just a few shots, the ambushing fairy dropped dead on the floor next to him.

"Hm. Another zero for Nine-ball..." He said furiously while kicking the corpse.

Shortly after the entire group left the mansion, the blue fairy got up with no evidence of her being shot at all. "How rude! Calling me Nine-ball every time he sees me..."

...

**Afterwords**

And so begins the Touhou arc of the "March of the STICK" series. Will the resident Gensokyans find a way to repel the trans-dimensional abominations that is the STICK Army?

Leave your reviews if you have any.

"_Until then..."_


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